


Share your Silence

by Eknomind



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Deaf Character, Friendship, Sign Language, mentions of Hungary 2009
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-14 20:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8027698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eknomind/pseuds/Eknomind
Summary: Kimi is the first ever deaf F1 driver and Sebastian is on a mission to find out, how on earth Kimi's team radio works.





	1. First signs

**Author's Note:**

> I've been stuck with this for sooooooo long. Literally months. I still am stuck, but since I now have other things to procrastinate on, maybe I'll get some writing done instead of something productive.
> 
> Anyway, have yourself some (hopefully) badass deaf!Kimi and awkward Seb.

Sebastian was a rookie, Kimi was a champion in making. Sebastian really shouldn’t have gone anywhere near the Finn, let alone ask intrusive questions. He was definitely getting in trouble for this. He felt awkward when he tapped Kimi’s shoulder, but he couldn’t think of any other way of getting his attention. As everyone knew, Kimi had taken the F1 world by storm. Not only was he one of the most inexperienced drivers to make it to the sport, but he was the first deaf one as well. Now Kimi was driving for Ferrari and was once again fighting for the championship that had been evading him for a long time. Kimi turned around swiftly and signed something at him, looking openly annoyed. Sebastian instantly felt like it was something rude and that Kimi was fully aware, that he couldn’t sign at all. Sebastian presented a paper with his question written on it, alongside with a pen, to Kimi. The Finn wrote just two words to the paper before handing it back and disappearing. Sebastian stared at the words for a good while, more confused than he had been before asking.  
_How do you communicate with the team when you are in the car?_  
**I don’t.**

A couple of races later Sebastian made his next attempt at communicating with the Finn. He felt a bit sorry for Kimi, because no one ever made any kind of attempt at reaching for him and Kimi always ended up standing at the side on his own. This time Sebastian approached Kimi, showing off his new signing skills. The effect, however, was not what he had been looking for, as Kimi started laughing at him. Sebastian’s hands fell motionless. He was nowhere good enough to deal with this kind of situation. He could feel his ears redden when everyone began to stare at him and the hysterical Finn. Soon Kimi managed to pull himself together well enough to explain in writing, that he had no idea, what Sebastian tried to say, because the language had been _neither British nor Finnish sign language_. Sebastian swore revenge on all the websites that didn’t bother to mention that there was more than one sign language.

Next time Sebastian approached Kimi, he made sure Kimi’s interpreter was hovering at his usual spot one step behind the Finn’s shoulder. Kimi had noticed him first though, signing with his interpreter swiftly. Sebastian moved closer sheepishly, not liking the way the interpreter was smiling.  
“Hello Kimi! I just came here to, errr, ask you something,” Sebastian said and looked in awe how the interpreter turned his words into the gestures Kimi communicated with. Kimi nodded, not willing to put up any more effort. Sebastian looked at the interpreter, pleading for help, but the man kept his face just as blank as Kimi did.  
“I was just wondering, if you could teach me to sign. I’d like to be able to talk to you”. Kimi blinked at him and signed something to him.  
“Lesson one: look at me when you are talking”. Sebastian blushed.  
“How do you sign ‘I’m sorry’?” Kimi lifted his right hand close to his face and his left close to his chest, palm up, and then brought his right hand down, softly brushing the left in the process, forming the Finnish word with his mouth simultaneously. 

“You need a sign name,” Kimi informed Sebastian. They were standing a comfortable distance away from everyone. Sebastian could feel everyone staring at him. Again. Sebastian tortured his brain, knowing that Kimi wanted him to use signs as much as possible.  
“Sorry, I don’t understand,” Sebastian signed. He knew he was slow and awkward, but Kimi didn’t seem to care.  
“My sign name is Ice. What should I call you?” Sebastian was even more confused than before. Finally the interpreter came to his aid.  
“Usually people get sign names. His is Ice,” the man showed the sign slowly and Sebastian mimicked it, “He wants you to get one too.”

Sebastian waited for Kimi anxiously after the race in Spa. Kimi had scored yet another spectacular win on one of his favourite tracks. For Sebastian, it was DNF and no points once again. Not that the German cared, he was way too anxious to tell Kimi his news. Finally Kimi emerged from the sea of reporters and waved his hand at Sebastian. The interpreter, whose sign name appeared to be the sign for ‘M’ done close to his chest, caught up with his protégé a little later. Sebastian performed both names before proceeding.  
“My name is Venerable” he signed. Kimi repeated the name with more grace than Sebastian could ever hope to achieve. Kimi’s pale hands rose up and met in front of his chest before opening slowly while the Finn performed a tiny bow.  
“Don’t you think it is a bit pompous?” Kimi asked. Sebastian shifted his legs awkwardly.  
“Well yes, but it is my name. Sebastian means venerable,” he said, signing what he could at the same time. Kimi flashed him a smile and nodded. The interpreter pinched Kimi’s shoulder softly to gain his attention and then nodded towards the Ferrari motorhome. Kimi rolled his eyes, but proceeded to sign “sorry” to Sebastian before excusing himself for the team meeting. 

Brazil had been one more DNF for Sebastian, his hydraulics failing him on lap 34, but he found himself not being too affected by it as he cheered Kimi for the win. Sebastian had no fingernails left when he jumped up and ran towards the podium as Hamilton crossed the finish line seventh, securing the championship in favour of Kimi. When the podium trio appeared, Sebastian lifted his hands up in the air and wiggled them, the gesture meaning applause. Everyone around him kept jumping up and down, yelling and screaming. He felt incredibly bad for Kimi, who wouldn’t be able to hear any of the cheering intended for him. Sebastian swallowed his sudden urge to punch someone.


	2. Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian has his first unassisted "conversation" with Kimi under dire circumstances and gets in trouble with Christian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set around Hungary to Monza 2009, it might be a bit unclear to newer spectators.

It was Sebastian’s second full season in F1, but nothing he had learned during the first one and a half could have prepared him for _this_. Still himself shaken by the events of the qualifying, he bumped into lost looking and pale Kimi in the hotel lobby with no M in sight. He tapped Kimi’s shoulder and performed Kimi’s name, thumb pointing at his own face and then lowering his hand quickly. He was nowhere good enough to hold an entire conversation with Kimi, but he also knew he had no other choice. Kimi acknowledged him with a nod and a blank stare. Sebastian tortured his brain, trying to remember all the alphabets he needed in order to form the question.  
“F-e-l-i-p-e?” he asked, that being the best he could do. Kimi shrugged.  
Sebastian pointed at Kimi and then signed: “OK?” His efforts were awarded with a nod. Clearly Kimi was not okay and instead resorted back to his usual ways of pushing everyone, with the possible exception of M the interpreter, away. Now, however, M was nowhere to be seen and someone had to take care of Kimi. Sebastian pointed at Kimi again, then himself and nodded towards the elevator, hoping that Kimi would get the message.

As soon as they entered Sebastian’s room, he rummaged through his drawers and managed to find a notepad and a pen, which would hopefully allow a less awkward conversation. When he turned around, he saw that instead of acting like normal people and sitting down, Kimi had made a beeline to the minibar and was now sipping something that looked suspiciously like vodka. Sebastian crossed his arms, trying to look stern, but probably failing miserably.  
“What?” Kimi signed at him and took another sip.  
_What about the race tomorrow?_ Sebastian scribbled as fast as he could.  
“One bottle,” Kimi signed, irritated, and slumped down on Sebastian’s bed. Sebastian sat down next to him.  
_Any news on Felipe?_ He wrote and passed the paper and pen to Kimi.  
**They’ll keep him overnight.**  
“That’s good,” Sebastian signed and this time Kimi cracked the tiniest of smiles and took the pad to write something.  
**It just reminds me. We are not actually immortal, are we?**  
Sebastian shook his head apologetically. Kimi got up so quickly that it almost looked like he had a spring attached to his back and, without even a goodbye, he walked out of the door, taking the bottle with him. Sebastian looked at the notepad and saw that Kimi had left one more message, but crossed it out.  
~~**I don’t want to remember**~~

On Sunday Sebastian kept his eyes on Kimi, but the Finn seemed to be back to his usual self. Some might even say that he was too concentrated on him, as he ended up making contact with the rear of the Ferrari at the start. It was downhill from there on, crowned by suspension failure and a DNF. Nevertheless, he found himself smiling when Kimi climbed to the second step and signed something that looks suspiciously like “one bottle”. Sebastian made a mental note to not question Kimi’s life choices ever again. 

Monza was busy for Ferrari drivers, especially after Kimi’s spectacular win in Spa and good positions in the two races before that. Being the clear number one driver after Felipe’s accident didn’t help. Knowing that, Sebastian was surprised to see M seeking him out, apparently leaving Kimi to be someone else’s problem for a while. He allowed M to take him to the side despite earning disapproving gazes from the Red Bull personnel.  
“Is this about?” he began and signed the last word, _Kimi_ , in case some of the mechanics were eavesdropping.  
“Yeah, he’s a bit upset. I just wanted to ask if you could talk to him,” M whispered.  
“About what?”  
“His,” M signed _grandmother_ , “died a couple of days ago. He could use a friend.” Sebastian had never agreed to anything so fast in his life. He didn’t even care that this plan would probably get him yelled at by both Horner and Marko. 

“Congratulations on third!”  
“Thanks,” Kimi signed unenthusiastically. “Didn’t really earn it though.”  
“Lewis hit the wall, you didn’t. Doesn’t that make you better?” Sebastian said and smiled compassionately at Kimi who simply shrugged.  
“Sorry about your grandmother,” Sebastian signed. He would never admit it to Kimi, but he had been practising it the whole weekend. Kimi thanked him again with a curious look on his face and a comfortable silence fell between them. Both Sebastian and M jumped up a meter into air when they heard someone clear their throat right behind them. All three turned around and Sebastian saw Kimi sign an extremely vulgar curse word at the unexpected visit by the Red Bull team boss. Sebastian thanked all the gods that M had the decency to not translate that one.  
“I’m very disappointed in you Sebastian,” Christian said and suddenly Sebastian felt incredibly small. Kimi and M had discreetly shifted into their usual positions that allowed Kimi to follow both the conversation and M’s hands. With a worried look on his face, the Finn signed “Someone’s in trouble”.  
“I heard a couple of mechanics talk about how you were being sneaky with some Ferrari personnel and here I find you with none other than the Iceman and his loyal guard dog!” Christian was obviously quite furious.  
“It’s not like that, I swear,” Sebastian said, brain switching into full panic mode. Christian opened his mouth to scold Sebastian further, but his words were stuck in his throat when Kimi suddenly stepped between them, signing furiously. It was a weird feeling to have conversation with the man standing in front of him while hearing the words come from his left side.  
“Leave him alone,” Kimi signed. “He’s done nothing wrong!”  
“Then why is your physio sneaking behind our motorhome to speak with him?” Kimi looked at M for a long time and then, much to the surprise of everyone, took off his sunglasses and locked gazes with Christian.  
“Because sometimes even I need a friend.” At that moment, it became evident to Christian, why Kimi usually hid his eyes. They seemed to be the only truly living thing on that blank face, betraying even the most vulnerable emotions to the inhospitable world. The moment shattered when Kimi put his glasses back on, switching back to his menacing demeanour. Christian bowed his head, now realising the severity of his misjudgement.  
“You can go now,” M said, but Sebastian noticed that those were most definitely not the words Kimi had used, the original version having been less polite. He looked thoughtfully after his boss, wondering if Kimi usually just told people to “fuck off” and only avoided getting into people’s bad books thanks to M. Then he jumped to hug Kimi, who failed miserably at answering to it, leading into them almost falling over had it not been for M. Once stable on their own feet, Sebastian let the confused Finn free of his embrace.  
“The fuck was that for?”  
“You said ‘friend’,” Sebastian signed and beamed at Kimi.  
“You tell anyone and I’ll kill you,” Kimi answered, making a failed attempt at a death glare that turned into a grin somewhere along the way. 

“I’m leaving,” Kimi signed out of the blue, “Should sort out your problem with Christian”. Guided by his instincts, Sebastian turned to face with M, then corrected himself and ended up missing most of the sentence.  
“I’m leaving F1,” Kimi signed to clarify when he saw Sebastian’s confused and embarrassed face.  
“But your contract-,” Sebastian started. Kimi looked at him sincerely.  
“I’ll take the money and run,” Kimi was clearly joking, but at the same time, he wasn’t, “I always wanted to try my hand at rally and now I can”. Sebastian couldn’t help but laugh.  
“How does that work out? With the notes and everything.”  
Kimi shrugged. “We’ll see”. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took a bit longer than promised to write, ended up adding completely new chapter here. The next one will take a while as well, because it's quite rubbish at the moment. I might have gotten occupied with serious simi angst turned into murder mystery while waiting for inspiration. I'll probably hold onto that until I have the plot lined out, otherwise I won't finish it.


	3. Bad Influence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian visits Kimi at a rally and insists on confusing media by using sing language whenever he can. Which turns out to be a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was inspired by a couple of videos of Sebastian speaking Finnish. And by inspired, I mean I used them bc I'm a lazy writer.
> 
> Links: [Abu Dhabi 2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVDApsAnyqg) and [Korea 2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gFandIffjA)
> 
> Oh and for clarity's sake, everything Seb writes is in _italics_ and everything Kimi writes is **bolded**.

Turned out rallying didn’t work very well. Kimi, despite being quick, spent more time in a ditch than on the road, but he took some comfort in the fact that Sebastian finally seemed to be doing well back in F1. Kimi didn’t go to see him race though, as he was busy with rallying and had grown tired of F1 anyway. He texted with Sebastian and even Skyped him to continue their lessons. He was amused to see that Sebastian did his best to confuse media by giving interviews in sign language. Apparently finding someone to translate individual comments from Finnish sign language proved to be a hard task for most channels. When Sebastian secured the championship in Abu Dhabi, Kimi almost fell off his couch seeing Sebastian sign “Where is my invitation to the party at the castle?” to Finnish media, just like Kimi had dared him to do just a day earlier. That was so going to be an internet hit as soon as someone got it translated. 

“How do you do it?”  
Kimi shrugged, and Sebastian knew that the Finn found irritating him amusing. Sebastian crossed his arms and pouted. Kimi laughed, the sound was a bit weird to Sebastian’s ears, but he had become used to it, thanks to Kimi laughing a lot more in private.  
“I’ll show you,” Kimi signed and pointed at his car. He had trouble hiding his pleased smile. Sebastian had come to see him race despite the busy schedule that came with winning the world championship. That was one of the things Kimi didn’t miss at all.  
“There.” Kimi showed Sebastian a simple LCD-screen bolted to his dashboard.  
“Kaj types the notes in.” He pointed out a custom keyboard attached to the passenger seat.  
“I’m impressed,” Sebastian signed and Kimi bowed mockingly. “I aim to please.”  
Kimi picked up his toolbox again, indicating that the conversation was over and that he had to get back to work. 

Christian saw Sebastian at a loss of words, probably for the first time ever. He approached the TV crew, hoping to help his driver out.  
“Well, if he can’t find the words, then I can,” he said with a pleased smile on his face, but before he could go any further, Sebastian interrupted him and showed him a sign in a way that it couldn’t be caught by the camera.  
“Don’t try it,” he warned Sebastian and turned back to face the camera, “He’s using sign language. You’ll get me in trouble!”  
“It’s nothing bad!” Sebastian assured him with his signature devilish smile never leaving his face.  
“We’re not live,” the interviewer confirmed.  
“Just sign,” Sebastian said and touched his lips with his right hand and then moved it away from his face while doing his best at forming the Finnish word with his mouth. _Hyvä_. Christian mimicked the action and Sebastian showed it again. “It’s good,” the driver said.  
“It is good, yes, very,” Christian said and signed _hyvä_. Korea had indeed been very good to them.

“I miss you,” Sebastian signed. They hadn’t seen each other for months, both busy with their respective sports and he had already stopped counting days from their last skype call as well.  
“I know.”  
“And?”  
“I’m working on it.”  
“So who’s the lucky lady?”  
“I can’t say.” **But she has black wheels and a steering wheel.**  
“Will you name her?”  
“No,” Kimi signed and proceeded to write the rest, knowing Sebastian wouldn’t be able to follow.  
**and I’m not letting you to either. There’s no way I’m putting my feet inside Kinky Kylie or any other car with a stripper name.**

Sebastian skyped Kimi the second he heard the news.  
“Are you serious?”  
_All those teams drooling after you and you picked Lotus?_  
Kimi made a face at him.  
**This is the best option in the long run, believe me.**  
Sebastian shook his head.  
“Plus, they make the best puns.”  
_Since when did you care whether your team has a sense of humour?_  
“Since now?”

Sebastian’s well-earned winter break was interrupted by his phone ringing. Most people had the courtesy to leave him be during Christmas as he had asked to be left in peace to be with his family for once. The ringing stopped and he sighed happily. Unfortunately he was given only a couple of minutes of silence before the ringing started again. Irritated, he looked at the screen and stared at the caller’s name, utterly confused.  
_Kimi Räikkönen_  
“Are you going to answer that?” someone yelled from another room, probably annoyed by the constant ringing. Sebastian slid the screen.  
“Hello?”  
“Thank god Sebastian! Mark here.”  
“Are you two so joined to the hip that you follow him everywhere during Christmas too?”  
Mark didn’t dignify him with an answer.  
“I’m just delivering a message. Kimi has to cancel your badminton game.” Sebastian felt quite disappointed. He had been looking forward to playing with Kimi for the first time since 2009.  
“Do I get his Ferrari since he’s bailing out?” He heard Mark snorting on the other end of the line.  
“He sold it. And he’s not bailing out, he really can’t play. Broken arm.” Mark ended the phone call there and presumably handed the phone back to Kimi, because the Finn answered his text immediately.  
_What did you do this time?_  
**Snowmobiling.**  
_Do you have a cast and everything?_  
**I have a very impressive scar and yes, I have a cast.**  
_Does that count as a speech impediment?_  
Kimi didn’t bother to reply him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me if the character's communication through writing is confusing to you and I'll figure something out. I didn't want to use italics on all ow it, because it's a conversation and adding their names to everything just felt weird.


	4. You clever, clever man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimi makes his comeback, drama ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the writing system for this chapter, will probably edit the previous on as well. Thank you for your feedback! I don't have a beta so I have to experiment a bit with the final thing.

Kimi almost fell down when he was caught in a surprise hug from Sebastian.  
“Welcome back!” Sebastian signed and Kimi signed something at him in return and winked mischievously before hurrying towards his motorhome with M in tow. Later that evening Sebastian searched the word from an internet dictionary only to find out that Kimi had called him a dick in front of, well, everybody, including Michael. The bastard was most likely fully aware that Sebastian couldn’t understand the insult.

Sebastian almost screamed when he realised that the car parked next to his was black and gold. He rushed upstairs to go and chat with Kimi and irritating Fernando in the process.  
“At least the dicks will shut up now,” he told Kimi, who looked a bit surprised by the fact that he knew the word. The Finn decided to let it pass though, and smiled and nodded in response.  
They caused quite some commotion in Abu Dhabi. At first, it was only Sebastian, who got in trouble as Kimi’s interpreter had thoughtfully translated his rude signing into more family friendly language. In the end, they both received warnings from their actions on the podium. Sebastian made Kimi teach him all the swear signs he knew after that. The team made sure to gain advantage of the episode.  
@LotusF1 _If a deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?_  
They landed a sponsorship deal with a large hygiene product company after that.

_Told you –Kimi_  
_You need to be more specific –Seb_  
_That it was the best option –Kimi_  
_Skype me. I need to see your face –Seb_  
“So what’s the big deal?” Sebastian asked as soon as he got the Finn on his screen.  
“You think I’d tell you just like that and spoil the tension?” Kimi replied, intentionally torturing Sebastian. Sebastian made his best pouty puppy-face, a face Kimi could never resist.  
“Fine. I can’t tell you all the juicy gossip, but a horse is definitely involved.” Sebastian inhaled sharply and then took Kimi into consideration and showed his shock with his hands as well.  
“You clever, clever man!”  
“I know. Oh and some serious shit is about to hit the fan, just thought you should know.” Kimi disconnected before Sebastian could question him about the subject.

The whole thing unravelled unbelievably fast and shook the whole paddock. Sebastian had already known of Kimi’s move to Ferrari, but he was caught off-guard when it turned out Kimi was the one who brought Lotus’ financial issues to broad daylight. Things got crazier by the minute, as driver after driver came out with similar issues in their teams. Sebastian made a mental note to never piss Kimi off. The Finn played dumb most of the time, but as he had shown with just one statement, he knew exactly what kind of power he held and wasn’t afraid to use it. 

“Did you know that would happen?” Sebastian asked him Friday evening. He was still amazed at how Kimi had managed to make the F1 world crumble to pieces despite putting only minimal effort into it.  
“I… suspected it,” Kimi answered, lounging on his bed like a spider in the middle of a net it had sown, trying to decide, which fly fallen to its prey it should eat next.  
“The Ferrari deal is official now so I had nothing to lose,” he added.  
“Did you learn your trolling skills from Lotus or did they learn from you?” Sebastian wondered.  
“I’m Finnish. Trolling is in our nature. You tell me.”

After Saturday’s free practise, Sebastian was getting ready for the qualifying when he noticed the McLaren doctor Aki Hintsa hurrying towards the Lotus motorhome, along with some Lotus personnel. Something was definitely going on and he felt like snooping around a little wouldn’t hurt anybody. He saw M-with-their-hand-close-to-their-chest standing around the back entrance, clearly waiting for Hintsa. Sebastian swallowed some curses and hid behind a tire rack to listen to the conversation.  
“…can barely breathe. They didn’t dare to do a thing,” M said and Sebastian was delighted to see that the conversation was held in English. He couldn’t have followed a spoken Finnish one.  
“So no one has touched him?” Hintsa asked. M nodded.  
“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll see what I can do,” Hintsa warned and then both men disappeared inside. Sebastian stopped holding his breath and let out all the curses he had swallowed. Something was going on and no one had felt the need to inform him. Outrageous!

Kimi had qualified 13th, but as it turned out later, it had been something of a miracle that Kimi had been able to qualify at all. Sebastian sat in Kimi’s hotel room, the mood entirely different from the day before. First of all, they weren’t alone and secondly Kimi lied on the bed clearly in pain as M tried everything he could to make it a bit more bearable for him. Kimi kept cursing through it and his curses had quickly become too complicated for either of them to understand. Kimi had once explained to Sebastian that M the interpreter was actually a Briton who had learned the Finnish sign language from Kimi, while being officially his personal trainer. He had already known the British one as someone he knew used it. Eventually Sebastian drifted to sleep in the chair he was sitting on and got yelled at by his physio in the morning for ‘acting like an irresponsible brat’. Sebastian was both surprised and pleased when he saw Kimi parking his car next to his, meaning that the Finn had fought his way into third despite the poor qualifying and excruciating back pain.

Race-wise, India was a disappointment with Kimi crossing the finish line seventh. While Sebastian was busy enjoying his fourth championship and getting fined for making donuts, everyone was concentrating on the drama happening in front of the Lotus motorhome.  
“You should have gotten the fuck out of Romain’s way!” Alan Permane was shouting at Kimi, who for once decided to stand up for himself. Kimi’s hands moved around quickly and sharply, making the emotion clear to everybody despite the language barrier.  
“Don’t you fucking shout at me,” Kimi signed and M turned the signs into sounds while keeping his voice calm and level.  
“Like Mr. block of ice would care, it’s not like he can hear me anyway,” Alan said and M had to grab Kimi, who was trying to punch the track side operations director in the face.  
“Speak to him, not me,” M said, this time obviously irritated, “We should take this inside.”  
“Let’s. Bad PR,” Alan agreed and together they dragged the Finn inside.

_Where are you? -Seb_  
_Home. –Kimi_  
_But… It’s Wednesday! Did you forget? –Seb_  
_Don’t worry, I’ll be there on Friday. Don’t tell Lotus. –Kimi_  
_What are you planning? –Seb_  
_Tell me! –Seb_

Sebastian barely saw Kimi the whole weekend. After the Finn’s late arrival both were quickly dragged into endless team meetings and sponsor events. Sebastian had hoped to at least catch up with Kimi after the race, but thanks to a first lap crash, the Finn had left the country before Sebastian managed to even get out of the track. 

Then, after a week with no word from Kimi, he received the news that the Finn would be unable to race in the last two races and would be having a back surgery done instead. Finally on Thursday, after days of sending text messages and making skype calls without getting any answer, his phone buzzed in his pocket and he stopped abruptly, causing Britta to walk several meters before realising that Sebastian was no longer following her. She pointed at her wrist, trying to keep Sebastian focused on the schedule, but the driver had already taken the call.  
“Hello-,“ he began, but Mark interrupted him.  
“Are you being watched? Cover your mouth and keep your voice down.” Sebastian did as he was told, despite not quite understanding why.  
“Done. How’s Kimi?”  
“Being operated right now. Sorry about the secrecy. He didn’t want to get you into trouble so I’m actually calling without his permission.”  
“Much appreciated.” Sebastian glanced at Britta, who seemed to be quite furious, probably because Mark’s call had ruined their state-of-art schedule.  
“Sorry, I really have to go. Please inform me when he is, you know, okay.”  
“I’ll try,” Mark promised and Sebastian ended the call.  
“Your relationship with Kimi is going to ruin us all,” she snarled at him and crossed her arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm out of the chapters I wrote in spring and I have a couple of busy weeks ahead so it will probably take a while to get the next chapter out. I really do want to do it though, I still have some nice things planned for it.
> 
> Also, if anyone wants to help me out with a mafia thing I've been writing lately, it would be much appreciated. I think I have to cut some things out of it, but have no idea which. (For comparison, it's already over 3k words long and that's maybe a quarter of the stuff I need to write while still needing to pass my uni courses. Robotics is not as fun as it sounds like.)

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry if my description of deaf culture is a bit off. I did my research mostly on Finnish culture and sign language. I am not deaf and I don't speak sign language (unless you count the occasional insult), but I was born half deaf and I'm very interested in learning sign language one day. Unfortunately my uni doesn't have any courses on it, but I might take a one in the open university.


End file.
